The Phoenix, SW1

The Phoenix is the closest pub to Buckingham Palace so I suppose it could be considered as the Queen’s local. The open plan bar has a mix of thick wooden standard and high tables with seating throughout. The bar counter that runs along the rear wall supports premium draught products and four hand pumps. During my recent Wednesday afternoon visit these were drawing Sharp’s Doom Bar and Windsor & Eton’s Park Life alongside Young’s ordinary and Wooden Spoon. A gastro menu is supplemented by bar snacks such as sausage rolls and pork pies. The pricing of food was not obvious so I cannot give any indication of cost. To the right of the bar is a butchers table that was lined with artisan bread and a large bread knife. Guys, this is Central London and it is full of crazies – Hide the fecking bread knife! There was some background music playing and World Cup Rugby was advertised for later in the evening. During my visit the TV was turned off and this isn’t the sort of pub I imagine would have Sky Sports. To the right of the butchers table with the bread and 10” knife are door and a flight of stairs that lead to the Yalumba Room, which I imagine is available for hire. To the left of the bar area is a separate seating area that aimed at diners. To the far left is a ‘secret garden’ which isn’t very secret because it is not enclosed and is currently overlooked by a huge building site. I found the service to be friendly, but I wasn’t enamoured by the surroundings which I found to be a bit ‘foody’. This is a pub and there is certainly no problem going here not to eat, but I prefer a more traditional pub vista whilst having a jar.

Handily positioned between Victoria station and Buckingham Palace, this is a modernised food-led pub from the Geronimo inns chain. The interior is nice and tidy with bare floorboards and some attractive tiling around the bar area. Most of the space opposite the servery is filled with scrubbed high tables and stools with a few standard tables and chairs around the perimeter including under the eye-catching front bay windows. Walls are painted in neutral tones with various art prints and photos on display and some rather remarkable burlesque wallpaper on certain sections of wall. A small dining space at the rear had space for a few banquettes and led out to a ‘secret’ garden which is partly covered and has some decent looking seating. Signs pointed to an upstairs lounge but I didn’t bother to investigate. A TV screen was showing live rugby, although most people were either busy eating or else were tourists suspiciously eyeing a visiting group of morris dancers. I was a bit disappointed to find just two hand pumps in use dispensing Young’s Special (nothing special about it unfortunately) and Sharp’s Doom Bar. A leaflet on the bar listed a selection of bottled beers from around the world which included Young’s Double Chocolate Stout, whilst Aspall’s cider was available on tap. One of our party had a bottle of the Stout and when I went to the bar to get him a pint glass to pour it into, the barman got all shirty with me, accusing me of bringing my own beer into the pub to pour into the glass. I thought this was a fairly pleasant place to enjoy a drink, despite not really being a drinker’s pub, but I was put off by the rude barman and dull beer choice. I might give this place another go, but first impressions weren’t great.

The Phoenix is a largish pub that is fairly close to Buckingham Palace. Once inside we went in the room at the front which was fairly large carpeted and also a bit bland in my opinion,the pub was probably a Courage house in the past,there were two real ales on the bar i had a drink of Courage best and this was a decent drink the other beer was Theakston best. This pub was ok for a quick drink before or after looking at Buckingham Palace. Pub visited 3/4/2002

I've been here a few times early evenings and found it to be quite a busy after-work-drinking more than eating pub. This evening I had a good pint of Cornish Coaster and noted Bombardier and Sambrooks Wandle were also available.

The Phoenix now advertises itself as a pub and eating house, which we all know means that it must be a gastropub. And so it turned out to be. The interior is exactly what you would expect from a “pub and eating house” – modern replica floorboarding, pastel shades on the walls, gray painted bar back and bar counter front, re-cycled school chairs, tall benches with solid “butcher’s block” style tables, sofas and armchairs, etc, etc. For me the most attractive thing about the pub is the bay windows with small latticed windows. Food is unsurprisingly at gastropub prices, as is the ale, with Cornish Coaster at £3.50 a pint. But to be honest this is not an exorbitant price by Central London standards. The other ale on was Bombardier, with two other pumps apparently unused. The kitchen seems to be directly behind the bar, and during my visit managed to fill the room with the all-pervading smell of fish. There’s a bit of outside seating on the left, intriguingly called “The Phoenix Garden and Terrace”, and upstairs there’s another room, called The Yalumba Dining Room, which I didn’t explore. In essence this is a typical madeover gastropub, although a good example of its type, and as others have stated it hasn’t totally lost its “pubness”. But it’s not really my sort of pub, and doubt whether I’ll pay a return visit.

Convenient for Victoria, the Phoenix still offers an interesting menu at a reasonable price. However, it was not a good advertisement for Geronimo at the moment - the staff were really quite amateurish (not interested in taking our order, too much horseplay), and although the menu looked good, none of the four handpumps had any beer on. With the amoutn of choice available in the area, I will try other places first in future.